Where Were You Last Tuesday?
by lovemelaura88
Summary: Paul meets the newest member of his AA group and decides to befriend her. Alice isn't a "real" alcoholic; she just needs to finish some court mandated AA meetings to take care of a minor charge for drunk and disorderly conduct. Maybe she doesn't "really" have a drinking problem but that doesn't mean she doesn't need someone to talk to. And Paul is more then willing to help.
1. Chapter 1

"Where does addiction come from? Everything we need or want comes from something deep inside of us. A subconscious desire for something. It's scary to think about though because sometimes the hardest thing to do is turn around and actually take a good look at yourself. Because deep down in the pit of your stomach you know you're not going to like what you find." Paul speaks out loud to the rest of the group the words he needs to hear.

It's been a little over a year since he stopped drinking and yet it wasn't like he expected. He didn't feel cured. He just felt like he learned to ignore that nagging voice inside his head. It's true the voice was very weak now. He could hardly hear it but that didn't mean it was gone. He really had come a long way though.

Paul was always a little uncomfortable in his own skin and always dealt with anxiety. He started having trouble sleeping years ago and he figured a drink would calm his nerves. But when drinking til you black out becomes the only way you can get to sleep at night you start to wake up every morning wondering if getting out of bed was really worth the effort. It was his drinking that got him into trouble at his old job and he wasn't going to let this illness bring him down.

He can only vaguely remember horsing around with a 14 year old in a parking lot near the church. He can't remember what it was exactly but the boy dared him to do it and kept insisting that Paul couldn't do it. Somewhere in his drunken state of mind he just had to prove the kid wrong. Next thing he knew he'd inadvertently punched a minor in the face and had to be relocated to the sleepy town of Broadchurch to save his reputation as a responsible ordained minister.

Paul took this change of scenery as a chance to start over from scratch. He'd drive over an hour away from home every Tuesday night for Alcoholics Anonymous. It wouldn't be anonymous if he ran into someone he knew. Broadchurch was a small town. Imagine the talk if it's discovered the local vicar has a drinking problem.

A vicar is held to a standard above everyone else and he understood that going in. You don't become a priest without a fair amount of soul searching. Whether or not someone is religious; they see you dressed in that dog collar and they automatically look to you for moral advice. All Paul can do is pray to God he's doing the right thing. "God can speak through anyone no matter how flawed their life might appear." he speaks out loud to the group again the words he needs to hear.

Paul had come to know everyone at his AA group except for one new face. She introduced herself as Alice.

"Hello Alice" everyone said together.

"Hi" she looked at the ground and shuffled her feet looking uncomfortable. "I'm here because I was arrested for being just a little disorderly while drunk one night. Once!" she holds up a solitary finger "I'm not addicted to drinking . I'm just overly friendly when drunk. Overly friendly, overly loud and overly forgetful about what is and isn't considered appropriate in public. I've never been in a situation like this before and definitely will not be making the same mistakes again. Thank you very much."

"Well, hopefully you'll take something good out of your time here." the group leader replied trying not to sound annoyed by the way in which the new member seemed to speak. This meeting was a joke to her.

She was young. Early twenties, short black hair and big brown eyes. Her cupid bow lips quietly sipped through a straw as the rest of the group talked. One of the newer members was dealing with night sweats from her withdraw. Paul remembered he used to shake. He couldn't grab hold of anything for nearly a week when he first stopped drinking.

Alice had never felt anything more than a slight hangover headache after a few too many tequila shots on her 21st birthday. There was also that one time she had one too many at a karaoke bar and had to barf in the bushes. It should be noted she'd also recently eaten some chicken strips at McDonalds so it could have just been the McDonalds that made her barf in the bushes.

Alice's skirt was short and her stockings were sheer but she wore a v-neck sweater because it was a little chilly outside. Paul had noticed when she sat across from him how short her shirt was and how well her push up bra was working. He'd made it a point to look at her from her shoulders up only. He wasn't dressed like a priest at the meeting but he'd been trained on how to make priest appropriate eye contact at all times.

The meeting ends with snacks and chit chat and everyone slowly meanders back to the parking lot and into their cars. Paul sees Alice drop her keys and quickly picks them up for her.

"Thanks" she says as she fiddles with the lock on her car door.

"What did you think of the group? Think you'll be coming back?" Paul had a habit of bombarding people with questions all at once when he wanted to speak with them.

"Well, I have a court ordered agreement to come here... so yeah I have to come back" she chuckles and opens her car door.

"But it wasn't too bad, right? Did you feel welcomed?" he asks lots of questions again.

"I don't think I was very welcomed. I'm not a real alcoholic. I'm just a stupid kid taking care of some community service bullshit and they know that" Alice starts to get into her car.

"Well, since you are going to be spending some time here I thought I'd try to make you feel better. I mean, if you ever feel like you need anyone to talk to.." Paul was the sort of person who sincerely wanted to help people. If he ever felt someone was in pain he felt an overwhelming urge to help. To him that was the best thing about being a reverend; being able to help people.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks" she smiled and shut the door of her car. "Oh, hey!" she rolled down her car window and stopped Paul as he was walking to his car. "What was your name again?"

"I'm Paul." he smiled kindly.

"Here's my number, Paul. If you ever want to talk about anything too." Alice hands him a small piece of paper with her number on it. He hadn't had a girl give him their number like that since he was a teenager. He wasn't sure if she was being forward of simply being friendly. Paul figured it best to assume the latter.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello?" Paul answers his mobile.

"Hey, Paul! It's Alice. Remember?" Alice's familiar voice answers back.

"Yes, of course" Paul smiles.

"Yeah, well.."Alice chuckles. "I'm calling because you seemed very sweet and I hope you don't mind my asking you to go to a thing with me."

"A thing...?" Paul balances the phone on his shoulder as he holds his laptop in one hand and his keys in another as he tries to open his front door.

"Yeah, it's a wedding this weekend; Sunday afternoon. I'm a bridesmaid and I would like to go with a date" Alice is embarrassed to ask in fear of sounding like a bit of a loser for asking a guy she just met three days ago to a wedding "AND..." she adds to make it sound less desperate "I figured it'd be good to go with someone who could make sure I didn't drink. How do you go to parties and not drink? Do you just not socialize or what?"

"I usually order an orange juice" Paul replies as he sits down on his couch.

"Ugh! I'm going to Shareen's hen party tomorrow night and there's going to be drinks everywhere and I have to order an orange juice? At least there'll be plenty of penis shaped lollies to keep things interesting." Alice jokes.

Paul stifles a laugh as best he can. "Well, I'm sorry to tell you that I'd love to join you at the wedding but I am actually already attending a wedding on Sunday."

"No way! It's not YOUR wedding is it?" Alice asks in a joking tone of voice but almost worried that she might be asking a man engaged to be married out on a date.

Paul laughs. "No, I'm not the one getting married but it's important that I be there so I can't miss it."

"Ok, I guess I'll see you Tuesday. Wish me luck this weekend!" Alice smiles at herself in the mirror as she talks to him.

"Will do" Paul says goodnight as they both hang up their phones.

Paul fails to mention that he wasn't just going to a wedding but performing one and it wasn't until Sunday afternoon rolled around that he noticed the bride's name was Shereen and that woman walking down the aisle towards him in a pink chiffon bridesmaid's dress looked incredibly familiar.

Alice's eyes widened with shock and her mouth fell agape as she continued walking and staring at Rev. Coates the whole way up to the alter. A little smile crept up on his face as he looked down at his feet to break eye contact. She stopped and stood at her place right beside him. He glanced up to look at her and caught her staring at him with those big brown eyes open wide. She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips to express a silent 'are you kidding me?' and Paul couldn't help but chuckle out loud and quickly cover his mouth in his hand. Alice started to chuckle back and the other bridesmaids looked at each other a little confused that Alice seemed to have an inside joke with The Reverend. Paul shushed Alice and himself and he remained composed and professional for the rest of the service.

Once the main service was over and the reception started; everyone began to mingle and drink and Alice stood by the dessert table quietly munching on some wedding cake and resisting the urge to grab a bottle of champagne.

"What did you think of the service?" a familiar voice turns her head around. "Sermon was a bit dull. I mean, 1st Corinthians? 'love is patient, love is kind...'. A great message but maybe just a little overused. It's completely unoriginal on my part. Straight plagiarism really. " Paul says jokingly.

"You're loving this, aren't you?" Alice gives him a mockingly stern look.

"You're not?" Paul laughs. "What a great coincidence." Paul liked to think this chance encounter was providence. A sign that he was supposed to keep an eye on her but he didn't want to sound too preachy.

"Yeah, great I made a joke about penis lollipops to you over the phone the other night." Alice felt a little embarrassed.

"Did they keep things interesting enough for you to stay away from binge drinking?" Paul smiled kindly.

"Yes" Alice rolls her eyes

"Are you lying?" Paul crosses his hands in front of himself and gives her a stern look.

Alice opens her mouth but nothing comes out at first. Seeing him dressed as he was looking at her like that made her confused. "Ugh... I.." she slowly regained her voice "I didn't come here for absolution, sir. Now if you don't mind my girls are looking at me funny because they all want to know how I'm friends with the vicar." she points over Paul's shoulder to the huddled mass of pink chiffon over by the champagne bottles.

"Oh, yeah" he looks over his shoulder at the bridesmaids and back at Alice. "Try not to tell them exactly everything about how you met me. You can see how if word got out I could get in some trouble. I don't want to say you should ever lie for me but..."

"But I should lie for you." Alice finishes his sentence. "It's ok" she laughs "I'll figure something out." Alice leans in close and lightly rests her hand on his shoulder "Your secret's safe with me" she whispers in his ear and winks before she walks back to her friends.

"Sorry, girls! Can't drink..." Alice points behind her to the Reverend who's being offered a slice of cake. "God's watching" she rolls her eyes.

"You looked like you were straight up flirting with him, you little freak." Jamie laughs "The bridesmaids are supposed to hook up with the best man, not the vicar."

"I like men in uniform." Alice laughs.

"You two were laughing together like you shared some little secret." Jamie talks with her mouth full of wedding cake. "So what is it?" all the girls gather round.

"It's nothing. I have to go to AA meetings remember? Well, he's a counselor there. But I didn't know he was a reverend. So it was a surprise to see him." Alice more or less told the truth. He's the one who gave that great little speech about looking inside yourself to solve your problems and that it might be scary but you have to do it. Alice was never very religious but maybe God really does speak through people sometimes. That is assuming God does in fact exist; a fact Alice wasn't completely convinced on just yet.


End file.
